Most software companies have a privacy policy. I built a privacy architecture. There is a difference. A policy can be changed overnight. An architecture that has no server to store your data cannot be changed into one that does — without rebuilding the entire product from scratch. That is why I built it this way.
Every free tool on the internet has a cost. Sometimes it is ads. Sometimes it is your data. Sometimes it is your behavior — tracked, logged, sold to companies you have never heard of. The cost is almost never disclosed clearly. You agree to terms of service nobody reads and something happens to your information that you never consciously chose.
I built Plaintools because I wanted tools that simply worked. No account. No tracking. No files uploaded to a server you have no visibility into. Every tool on this site runs in your browser, on your device, using your computing power. When you close the tab everything disappears. There is nothing on my end to disappear — because there is no my end.
That is not a marketing line. It is the operating principle behind every decision I make about what to build, how to build it, and how to charge for it.
When a company says your data is private that is a promise. Promises depend on the company keeping them — and on you trusting that they will. I decided not to ask for that trust. Instead I built something that makes the promise structurally impossible to break.
One thing worth naming honestly: the JWT decoder, hash generator, and password tools handle sensitive data that developers sometimes paste without thinking. None of it is transmitted. Ever. The Web Crypto API used for hashing runs entirely in your browser's secure context. I chose these APIs specifically because they were designed to never expose data to a network layer.
I am going to say something plainly: Plaintools is built with AI assistance. AI helps me move faster, test ideas, and turn my decisions into working code. But the direction, values, judgment, and final responsibility are mine.
What I did: Every product decision. Every philosophical choice. Every feature request. The decision to have no servers. The decision to charge honestly and not deceive. The decision to build locally where possible. The decision to avoid tracking. The decision to improve tools carefully instead of chasing tool count. The direction, the values, the judgment — all mine.
What AI did: Helped write, refactor, test, and organize code under my direction and review.
What the tools themselves do: No cloud AI. Conversions are deterministic. Hash generation is cryptographic. Password generation uses your device's secure random number generator. When a tool can be solved with mathematics, parsing, or local browser APIs, that is how it should be solved.
I believe transparency about how things are made is as important as transparency about how they work. I would rather tell you this and have you trust me for it than hide it and have you wonder. The tools do not depend on AI to produce ordinary results. AI helps me build faster; mathematics, engineering, browser APIs, and deterministic logic power the tools. AI was the instrument — the same way a carpenter uses a nail gun. The house is still the carpenter's.
Many tool websites compete by adding thousands of tools. Plaintools is moving in the opposite direction.
A tool does not belong on Plaintools simply because it can be built. It belongs because it solves a real problem well. If a tool is confusing, unreliable, or not useful enough, it should be improved or removed.
Every tool is added for a reason. Depth matters more than quantity. Quality matters more than volume.
Free tools require someone to pay for them eventually. Here is exactly how I think about that — no ambiguity, no fine print.
The business model in plain language: the browser tools stay free. A future desktop edition may fund heavier offline tools, larger file processing, and continued development. I will not build a growth strategy that depends on confusion, lock-in, or artificial scarcity.
Plaintools is still growing. The goal is not rapid expansion. The goal is to build useful tools, refine them, and earn trust over time.
The current focus is on four major areas:
Beyond the browser, a future desktop edition will allow heavier workloads, offline operation, batch processing, and advanced workflows that browsers are not ideal for.
I build what is missing, not what is popular. Popularity follows usefulness. Usefulness requires someone to notice the gap first.
If a tool has a bug — tell me. If you want a tool that does not exist — tell me. If something I said on this page is wrong or unclear — tell me. If you just want to say a tool helped you — that matters too and I would like to hear it.
I use Proton Mail. Your email is encrypted in transit. I do not share correspondence with anyone. I respond when I can — usually within a few days.
Tool requests, bug reports, feedback, suggestions, questions about the philosophy, institutional licensing inquiries — all of it goes to the same place and gets read by the same person. Me.
PlainTools@proton.me